Frankly I fail to see what all the fuss is about. I purchased a hydraulic hose to do a pacific job.. The hose was fitted and it leaked when hydraulic pressure was applied. The hose purchased from a supplier whom I was happy enough to deal with and probably will do so again. Granted the hose was not up to the standard I am used to from that particular company but hey - we all make mistakes - its that simple.

Today I fitted my new hose, this was purchased from an industrial supplier of hydraulic hoses. I simply took my adaptors so the correct threads could be established, told them what the hose was for and the length required.. The hose is 6mm I.D and 15mm O.D made of a hose that can stand 350 bar - 5000 P.S.I with swaged fittings and cast £27.14 inc vat.
The supplier was "Pirtex" very well known and trusted in industrial circles.
This hose is just £15 cheaper than the failed hose that looked pretty but was useless, this hose actually works. All I need to do now is replace two slabs on my drive due the mess the leak made..

No fuss at all, simply a curiosity as to what actually happened at manufacture and more importantly, how to avoid a repeat.
I work in a very unforgiving of errors Industry and that little mistake could have run into a huge headache had it been an aircraft part.

Gentlemen I see your point and as you state John in the aircraft industry it may well have caused a disaster. It did cause a disaster, my driveway looks like an oil well.

The problem was a simple matter of a hydraulic hose having two different size internal fittings but still using the same size external fittings. As I was not prepared to assemble a hydraulic hose myself - I lack confidence in that particular area due to the pressures involved - I had the hose made for me, all I had to do was screw it to my adaptors..
I like most folk always start a threaded item by hand just to make sure the item is not cross threaded, if it goes on easy it must be correct. That done and tightened as far as I was concerned the job was complete and correct.. Like me most folk would assume the same thing. With the pump running there was no leak, I driven the car and after about five minutes the steering started to get hard, I pulled in, looked under the bonnet and found the hose was leaking all over my nice clean engine bay. Upon inspection of the hose the fault mentioned above was found. Two options were now available to me.. One, take the hose back to where it was purchased and play hell with them, or two, go elsewhere and have an industrial grade hose made as I had to have another hose anyway.
The industrial grade hose is working perfectly and was just over half the price of the first hose that looked pretty and done nothing right. Now do I return to the previous hose maker at some time in the future? Would you? Mistakes that cost me money are never made again.
That said I thank you for your input by trying to sort the problem that - as it turned out - was either a mistake or incompetence of the person who put the hose together.
Regards, Mike

mike-b wrote:Now do I return to the previous hose maker at some time in the future? Would you? Mistakes that cost me money are never made again.

Mike, please don't take this as a criticism of your actions, but I would have been down to them with hose in hand and asked them to rectify what was an unfit for purpose item sold by them. If the bloke building it made a mistake, YOU should in no way be made to pay again to rectify it (I know you elected not to give them the option to repair the error).

That, for me, would heave kept my faith in the first lot and allowed me the option of returning, should I have a need to, but more importantly, as a tightarse, I wouldn't be out of pocket.

John,
I see your point and no I do not think your last was a criticism of my actions - wrong though they probably were but that depends how you look at the situation. You have quite rightly tried to put yourself in my position but not (with respect) my frame of mind.
I live in Leicestershire and the said company is at Silverstone, for me if I wanted a hydraulic hose I would go and fetch it myself along with the obvious requirements.. The hose cost me £41 plus my time (no problem as I am retired) plus the fuel used. Now I am not prepared to repeat those fuel costs through no fault of my own. Even if they held their hand up to the P*** Poor job they made and built me another perfect hose for free that hose has now cost me extra money that I would not get back.
You are right of course, had they been nearer to home I would have returned the hose and played merry hell - and on reflection perhaps I should have.

However some good can come from a disaster, I found a company who make hydraulic hoses for industry and are built to a obvious industrial standard.. They also make them at just over half the price and they have a depot seven miles away in Leicester, though they are all over.
Why the hell I never thought of them in the first place I will put down to my age, having seen one of their vans outside many a factory I was working in (self employed electrical engineer) they are very quick at making any hydraulic hose, but then they had to be.
When you have a five million pound machine laying idle for the sake of (say) a £100 hose you dont ring the local garage.
Should you be interested the company is called PERTEK - google them.
Now THEY are good.
Regards, Mike

mike-b wrote: They also make them at just over half the price and they have a depot seven miles away in Leicester, though they are all over.
Why the hell I never thought of them in the first place I will put down to my age, having seen one of their vans outside many a factory I was working in

Just goes to show that we are never too old to learn. The first lot do seem too far away to have that fight at own costs, though.

I just Googled Pirtek and they have a branch here in Cape Town, so that one is filed in the ever leaky mental database.